Lance’s Collection Part 2

February 20, 2003

When Lance Mountain first witnessed somebody on a skateboard it must’ve hit him like a bus. With the love affair started, Lance began to shelve everything he possibly could during the past three decades. Over the next pages lies part two of Lance’s collection-fragments from boxes in storage at Blitz.-Skin

1. In 1978, Pepsi sponsored a skateboard team. They did demos across California and made product-shirts, stickers, wheels, boards, bags, and safety equipment. Roy McDonald, Jerry Valdez, Paul Hoffman, Russ Howell, Gordy Litman, Stacy Peralta, Lonnie Toft, Alan Scott, Mark Smith, and Greg Ayres were on the team. There’re also some questions here-a checklist. Should you wear a helmet? Should you check your wheels, bolts, and screws? Should you skateboard on public streets? Do pedestrians have the right of way? Should you skateboard in the dark? Where there are no sidewalks, should you follow the same rules as bicycles? Should you carry your board across an intersection after looking both ways? Should you skateboard in driveways? Do the top professionals wear safety equipment? Should you check the terrain for rocks, cracks, dirt, or foreign objects before you skate? Are skateboard parks the safest places to skate?The answer to all of them are “no.” Oh, yes.

2. Here we have Skate Trader, a little magazine that Todd Huber from Skate Lab put out in 1994. It listed old-school boards for sale. Just before the craze hit, you could buy a Jay Adams Z-Flex for about 40 to 70 dollars. Now they’re going for about 1,500 to 2,000 dollars. It’s insane.

4. Skatopia Skatepark sticker. It was right by Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park, California. Famous for the brick extension, people would fly up and see how many bricks they could get. The park closed around ’79.

5. Neil Blender, G&S teamrider signature T-shirt. This shirt wasn’t for sale, it was just one he wore on the road. Neil had a homemade screen that said, “Sadlands Street Team.”

6. SMA Rocco Division T-shirt when World Industries and SMA were part of each other.

7. An early Mark Gonzales Blind T-shirt. It’s actually a photo of his girlfriend. No, shut up-he’s married now. Better stop that, erase. What goes around, comes around. Be on the lookout for tank tops on the market soon by some company out there. It’s the Mark Gonzales 80s tank top. Show your arms.

8. This is a T-shirt from Lock At Lance’s second barbecue contest that we put on in 1984. It was called “lock” because our ramp was so mellow, you’d hang up on it on one side.

9. Tom “Wally” Inouye’s “Inouye’s Pool Service” (I.P.S.) board by Caster. Tom gave me this mint signed board when he saw the last article.

10. A Marina Gold Cup Powell-Peralta banner. It hung from the lights at the Marina Gold Cup in 1980. Rather than a cloth banner around the fence, they put bombs up around the light posts.

11. A pro-shop sign from Skate City-Whittier Skatepark-where Neil Blender, Hago Nigerian, John Lucero, and I worked sometimes and skated most of the time.

12. A pile of letters I haven’t written back to. But I have them, so I’ll write you back. Hopefully, you’re not all grown up with kids and moved away from home by the time I get around to writing you back. If that’s you, then you know I’m trying. This pile of letters also makes it look like I’ve never written anyone back. That’s not the case, I’ve written a lot of people back. It’s just that in the last couple of years, I’ve gotten kind of swamped. Sorry.

13. Original Mark Gonzales paste art from a Ralph’s supermarket shopping bag. Painted on and then glued items to it.

14. We also have Garry Davis’ Skate Fate ‘zine, I think it might’ve been one of his last issues. It looks like it’s been through the shredder, but that’s actually how he sent it through the mail to people. With griptape hangingn it, it looked like a little tail for a kite. Very innovative.

15. A hand-painted Blind board by Mark Gonzales with Watts Towers on it-it was made in 1989 or ’90. He painted over the Blind “dot” board-the board that had three big dots with the line through it that nobody wanted. Mark hand-painted them, and then everyone wanted one.

16. In 1989, I went to England to do some demos, and we met George Harrison’s son. He brought us back to his house to meet his dad. This is a signed George Harrison board with a photo of us with him. We went back to his castle-I’d say it wasn’t a house-and George was recording Traveling Wilbury songs. We had pizza with Tom Petty and George Harrison. The day before, Bob Dylan had just written the songs there that they were going to record. We got to hang out in his music room, play his instruments, and look at his guitars. George died last year. So that’s it. The board also says, “Was that a free one?” because we’d planned to do three demos and get paid for them, but we ended up doing ten and only got paid for three. So that was our little motto on that trip.

17. A couple years before I started The Firm, my dad and I made skateboards in our bathtub. Because it was our first experience making boards, we’d get wood and clamp the tails down, and then soak them in our bathtub for three days. My mom was stoked on that one. This is a board my dad and I made when I went to England in ’79. I got L.S.D. written on it there: London Skates Dominates; P.P.T.: Pino Pool Tool; and Seth Parker, the owner’s son of the Mad Dog Bowl (named after Tony Alva) after we skated there. There’s also a Lakewood Skateboard Center sticker, an Alva sticker, and the board graphic is of a Union Jack meeting Old Glory-quite a mix there. It was my dad’s plan where we (the U.S. and Britain) came together, I don’t know-I’m just out of it (laughs). My dad was hot, like, “This is what we’ll do.”

18. In ’83, at my second contest riding for Powell, I rode the red Skull And Sword board and got first place at the Upland Combi Pool Turkey Shoot. The second board’s from ’84. I rode it on the first ramp contest I won at Lake Tahoe-that was the board I lit the tail on fire. The third one-the yellow board on the right-is the one I broke my ankle on the day after Christmas in 1988. And I’m sure you guys don’t care. The middle one, the Future Primitive, was my first Powell graphic with the giant frog on the nose doing a Boneless One. It also had some sort of lizard doing a layback air in the middle and a signature. Actually, that wasn’t my first one-my first one I had Tony Hawk doing a fingerflip instead of me doing an invert, so actually that’s my second graphic. And then to the right is the one with a little change-up-it has a dog and some surfer guys, but they’re all pretty close. Sure, you guys care.

19. These are Lance Jr.’s little woods. They’re all trophies with plaques on them from the 80s. Paul Schmitt originally made these boards to be trophies with plaques, but somehow the plaques got ripped off of them and they got turned into skateboards for my son when he was about three or four years old. The middle one is the board he rode on Skate TV. He Smith-grinded at four years old in the shallow end while being held up. Notice the Ninja Turtle stickers.

20. Boards from the early 90s are rare because everyone was making such limited board-production runs back then. This is a John Cardiel Black Label board.

21. Accidental Gun Death Blind board. Guy Mariano shock value. That was a good board right there.

22. There were three of these made for the Bones Brigade Video Show. This was the board I was riding on around, street skating or whatever. The other two got stolen, so if you have them, I’m coming to get you. Craig Stecyk did the artwork.

23. This board was used in the filming of Police Academy 4. It’s signed by all the actors-Bubba Smith, David Spade, and Michael Winslow-the guy who made all the crazy noises. This board was used for a jump-ramp shot, and I snapped my tail off. Wait … we got “House,” we got “House.” We got … I don’t know the guy’s name.

24. Two used Steve Caballero decks, ridden by Cabby himself. He probably won contests on both of them.

25. A fuzzy Randy Colvin World Industries. It has black light-like fuzz coming down the back of it, so it’s like a velvet painting. It was a very experimental, rad board, and Randy Colvin was one of the first World Industries skaters. He’s super natural, very Mark Gonzales-like-amazing.

26. Joe Lopes Schmitt Stix board. Ridden by Joe Lopes.

27. Invitation passes to get into the Virtual Reality Plan B video in 1993.

28. Atiba Jefferson’s shoe that he wore during the filming of Chomp On This.

29. These guys-Tony Alva, Brad Bowman, Bert LaMar, and Fred Blood (roller skater)-went on a little tour together back in 1980. Just a random group of dudes. I didn’t see the tour.

30. This is a fake sticker from the movie Gleaming The Cube. In the movie, this guy asks Corey Webster to ride for Smash Skates. These stickers were made up to look like they had product.

31. Probably one of the best-selling graphics ever, it was drawn by Vincent Court Johnson.

32. Smith decal featuring Steve Olson. This came out right before he got on Santa Cruz and was skater of the year in 1978.

who made all the crazy noises. This board was used for a jump-ramp shot, and I snapped my tail off. Wait … we got “House,” we got “House.” We got … I don’t know the guy’s name.

24. Two used Steve Caballero decks, ridden by Cabby himself. He probably won contests on both of them.

25. A fuzzy Randy Colvin World Industries. It has black light-like fuzz coming down the back of it, so it’s like a velvet painting. It was a very experimental, rad board, and Randy Colvin was one of the first World Industries skaters. He’s super natural, very Mark Gonzales-like-amazing.

26. Joe Lopes Schmitt Stix board. Ridden by Joe Lopes.

27. Invitation passes to get into the Virtual Reality Plan B video in 1993.

28. Atiba Jefferson’s shoe that he wore during the filming of Chomp On This.

29. These guys-Tony Alva, Brad Bowman, Bert LaMar, and Fred Blood (roller skater)-went on a little tour together back in 1980. Just a random group of dudes. I didn’t see the tour.

30. This is a fake sticker from the movie Gleaming The Cube. In the movie, this guy asks Corey Webster to ride for Smash Skates. These stickers were made up to look like they had product.

31. Probably one of the best-selling graphics ever, it was drawn by Vincent Court Johnson.

32. Smith decal featuring Steve Olson. This came out right before he got on Santa Cruz and was skater of the year in 1978.